RUPERT Murdoch was last night planning to ditch his longest-serving lieutenant as the News of the World scandal threatened to contaminate his US empire.

Les Hinton, who has worked for the magnate for more than 50 years and is one of his most senior executives across the Atlantic, could become the most senior casualty of the crisis.

It is thought that it would deflect blame from James Murdoch, who runs NI’s parent company News Corp’s European operations, and also current NI chief exec Rebekah Brook.

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A company source is reported to have said: “Les will be sacrificed to save James and Rebekah. It happened on Les’s watch.”

Mr Hinton, 67, ran NI for 10 years until December 2007 and he twice told a parliamentary committee that there was no evidence suggesting that phone hacking had gone beyond a lone reporter.

In September 2009, he told the committee: “There was never any evidence delivered to me that suggested that the conduct of Clive Goodman spread beyond him.”

Murdoch will be desperate to stop the scandal reaching his companies in the US, where most of his business is based.

His biographer, Michael Woolf, claims the tycoon is considering selling News International altogether now the scandal appears to be hitting The Sunday Times and The Sun.

Mr Woolf, who wrote The Man Who Owns the News, said: “The whole world changed for News Corporation last week. Up until then they thought, ‘OK, we can manage this. It doesn’t compromise our business, we don’t lose any money, no one named Murdoch is at risk’. Last week that suddenly changed.

“The bulk of this company is concentrated in the US, and the bulk of its revenues do not come from newspapers.”

But Nicholas Grant, chief executive of Mediatrack Research, dismissed the idea. “That’s the last thing they will do,” he said.

“Without News International, particularly the quality titles that it includes, Mr Murdoch loses considerable credibility.

“Big newspapers give credibility, give access, give influence, give position, open doors, in a way that other titles don’t.”

Meanwhile, lawyers who have already filed a complaint alleging “rampant nepotism and failed corporate governance” on behalf of News Corp shareholders in America have used the hacking scandal to boost their case.

They claim that News Corp’s board failed to exercise proper action since news of hacking first surfaced, adding: “It is inconceivable that Murdoch and his fellow board members would not have been aware of the illicit practices.”

The shareholders claim: “The fact that the board has been so passive despite years of misconduct is a testament to how lacking in independence its members are from the Murdoch family. This has led to a ‘Murdoch discount’ in the marketplace.”

BSkyB shares were down almost 5% last night – closing at £7.16 on the London Stock Exchange.

Just a week ago, the company’s shares were being bought for as much as £8.50 – meaning BskyB has seen £2.3billion wiped off its value.